


The Mask Slips

by MissDuck101



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anxious Thoughts, Death Game (mentioned), Gen, Original Character(s), Original Universe, Underage Smoking, curse you Megumi, is aikawa allowed to have a normal talk?, just a nice little conversation, lol no, no breakdowns whatsoever, nothing to see here folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 04:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30016362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissDuck101/pseuds/MissDuck101
Summary: 'Some people in this world are never too sure whether or not the mask they wear is real. It’s a strange thing to ponder about, after all. Normally one would know whether or not the personality they showed to others reflected how they truly were, right?'-The stress of the death game is starting to get to everyone, and Aikawa needs a smoke. Too bad he isn't even allowed a moment of peace in this god forsaken mansion.





	The Mask Slips

**Author's Note:**

> A little oc story I wrote a couple of months ago. Was super proud of it, but didn't decide to post it until now. Yeah I know none of you know these characters but that's ok haha-
> 
> Also I swear I'll post actual fanfiction on the fanfiction site ok,,

Some people in this world are never too sure whether or not the mask they wear is real. It’s a strange thing to ponder about, after all. Normally one would know whether or not the personality they showed to others reflected how they truly were, right?

Aikawa sure did. He knew the way he treated most people wasn’t even close to being genuine. He acted out of self gain first and foremost. If buttering someone up and pretending to listen to them gained him an ally of his own, then he had no qualms with acting like the “princely type.” He needed people in his pocket in order to survive. This was true in and out of this so-called “death game.” Sure it was a little harder this time around, but his charms never failed him. And they weren’t going to fail him now.

The teen closed his eyes as he took a drag of his cigarette. He held the smoke in his lungs just long enough for his eyes to start to water, then he exhaled. The smoke drifted away lazily, clouding his vision. Aikawa suddenly fell into a coughing fit, dropping the cigarette as his arm flew up to cover his mouth. His gaze drifted down towards the fallen object. He sighed, bringing his foot up to smoother the smoldering tobacco.

“Ugh. And that was my last one too.” Aikawa muttered to himself.

He combed his fingers through his hair. He supposed that in a way, this was a blessing in disguise. Aikawa had been planning to go clean at some point. Maybe this was god’s way of saying his time was now. Still, it wasn’t like he was planning to suddenly go cold turkey.

Aikawa’s shoulders stiffened once he heard footsteps behind him. He wasn’t exactly expecting, or rather, in the mood to encounter someone right now. Plus considering that he was all alone, it was only natural to become more paranoid than usual. But he couldn’t think about that right now. Right now, Aikawa had to scramble to pick up the pieces of his mask and shove it on before whoever showed up found him like this.

“Hiya, Goro! Nice to see ya here!”

The girl behind him coughed while Aikawa suppressed the urge to groan. Shiratori, of course. Who else would happily call someone by their first name like that? He wasn’t sure if he could handle dealing with such an...energetic girl right now. Perhaps being killed right now wouldn’t be so bad.

“Hey, it’s pretty smokey here huh? There wasn’t a fire or anything, right? Right, Goro?? That’d be pretty bad.”

Oh god. He can _not_ deal with this right now.

“Ah, Shiratori. A pleasure seeing you here. How may I help you?”

“Uh, well, it’s pretty smoky here yeah? Do ya know why it is? I mean, ya gotta know right?”

Oh, right. That.

“Well Shiratori, I think someone was smoking here. Look.” Aikawa said.

He pointed down at the crushed cigarette down at his feet. Shiratori walked up to him, then looked down at where he was pointing. She hummed out loud, rubbing her chin with her fingers.

“Hmm, definitely looks like a ciggy to me.”

‘Duh, idiot.’

“It most certainly is. It wasn’t even completely used. And to think that they’d leave something horrid like this on the ground. They didn’t even have the decency to pick it up and throw it in the trash. What an animal.”

“Oh, but wouldn’t that be kinda bad though? I mean, what if the trash caught fire?! Maybe they were being considerate! I’d like to think that, at least.” Shiratori replied.

The girl beamed at Aikawa. What did she have to smile about? There was nothing to be happy about right now. Now to be fair, she did have a point. An ashtray would be a more suitable place to put this. But it was Shiratori’s fault that he didn’t even have a chance to find one in the first place. Ugh…

“Ha! You always think the best of others don’t you, Shiratori?”

“Hey! You can just call me Chieko, ya know? What’s the point in being overly formal?”

‘You just _now_ realized that.’

“Sorry _Shiratori_ , but that’s just the type of person I am. First name basis is reserved for any prince or princess who’s won my heart. I hope that doesn’t sadden you too much.” Aikawa smirked. “However, my heart has still yet to be won. Why don’t you give it a shot, hm~?”

Shiratori’s face scrunched up as if she had tasted something rotten.

“No way! Ko-chan’s plenty enough for me.”

Aikawa sighed in relief. Thank god. There was no way in hell he’d be able to handle flirting with a girl like this any longer than he did.

As Aikawa bent down to pick up the half-used cigarette from the floor, he felt a pair of eyes on him. He ignored it for a moment as he rolled the object in between his fingers. For a good minute or so, they were both completely silent. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of rain pouring down outside the window. Still, the pitter patter of raindrops against the window did little to ease Aikawa’s anxiety. Goosebumps started to scatter across his arms and shoulders. She was too quiet.

Shiratori was _never_ this quiet.

After a few more moments, Aikawa couldn’t take it anymore.

‘Well? You’re not planning to stand there all day, are you?” Aikawa asked, clear irritation seeping out of his words.

Shiratori was still smiling but something about it was...different. Aikawa couldn’t exactly place just _what_ was wrong with it, but he knew something was up. She may have been smiling as bright as she always did, but her eyes were what gave her away. They were crinkled and yet they looked sad, in a way. Like she was pitying him. Aikawa’s hand balled up into a fist.

“Hey, Goro.”

“What? And don’t call me that.”

“I will if you call me Chieko.”

“...No.”

Shiratori sighed. As the girl crossed her arms, she shook her head.

“Suit yourself.”

Another pause. Aikawa was worried that they’d be standing together in silence once again. Thankfully, Shiratori was the one to revive the conversation. Though, Aikawa wasn’t sure if this was the direction he wanted it to go in.

“You know, you don’t have to act like that.”

Aikawa stared at her. He wasn’t sure what to say at the moment, mainly due to not knowing what the actual _hell_ she was talking about.

“Act like what?” Aikawa asked innocently. Well, as much as he could in this moment.

“Act like, um, a prince? Is that the type of personality you’re trying? It is, isn’t it?”

The two of them had talked before, albeit briefly. Yet despite that, Aikawa thought he had her personality down. She was just a dumb, fun loving country bumpkin girl who tried to hard too hard to seem cute and trendy. That was all she was to him and all she seemed to be. Does that mean she was secretly hiding something like him? Was she wearing a mask like him? No, that couldn’t be possible. She was undoubtedly always very sincere and honest about her feelings. If someone could wear their feelings on their sleeve, then Shiratori had practically made a jacket out of them. So then, what was this? It’d be so much easier to assume that she was just some secret genius who acted stupid on purpose. Then, Aikawa could at least understand her. But...he didn’t understand this at all.

“Hey, Goro? What’s wrong? You look sick.”

“Huh?”

Aikawa stared blankly at the girl. It seemed he had spaced out for a moment. The girl looked at him expectantly, her crimson eyes staring right into his head. She looked genuinely concerned.

It made him sick.

“Ah, I’m...fine. Just fine. Just little tired, is all.”

“Really? Well, then you should definitely sleep! Be sure you’re getting at least twelve hours of sleep a day or else your body will hate you!”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

“Eh, is it?”

“Of course it is. Who even needs twelve hours? Only a lazy bum needs that much time to sleep.”

Aikawa sighed as Shiratori giggled. He stuffed the cigarette into his jacket pocket. She may be a bit...strange, but Shiratori was right. It was getting late and it was a good idea to at least get a little sleep now. Who knows what Arawn might have planned for them tomorrow.

The teen shot Shiratori a pleasant smile. Despite everything that had happened, Aikawa was still able to easily pick up and place his mask back on his face. It was as easy as eating or breathing for him. If he couldn’t even recover his image after that, then what kind of charmer would he be? 

A pretty shitty one, that’s for sure. 

Aikawa turned around. Before he could leave however, Shiratori called out to him.

“Hey, Goro!”

“Yes, Shiratori?”

A pause.

“You’re a pretty harsh person, huh? I like that, Goro! I like seeing your real self!”

Aikawa wanted to run away. He just wanted to block out her words and escape from this damn hallway.

“You should show that side to me more! I mean we’re friends, right? So don’t be afraid to-”

Aikawa never heard the rest of what she had to say. He was gone before she could finish. He dashed through the hallways, desperate to get away from Shiratori. He was relieved to know that no one seemed to be up at this hour. Running into someone else right now would be a pain.

Once he felt that he was a good distance away from the girl, Aikawa stopped. He leaned against the wall beside him. His chest rose and fell sharply. Aikawa's face was red as he gasped for air. He really needed to start building up his stamina again. Ugh, maybe quitting his smoking habit really would be for the best. Aikawa raised his head up from the bent position it was in. He was already breathless as is. He didn’t want to get a crick in his neck as well.

Aikawa turned around and let his back hit the wall behind him. He slid down and fell onto the hard tiling. The teen cursed at the sudden pain that shot up his body. But there really wasn’t much he could do about that at the moment. He instead focused on keeping himself warm. Aikawa shivered as he pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around them.

Maybe he should beg Nakajima to ask Arawn for some goddamn heaters. Then they wouldn’t be so fucking cold all the time.

Aikawa rubbed his hands up and down his arms and legs. He was almost grateful for the cold, in a way. It got his mind off of things. Things like this death game and Hirano and Shiratori-

“Ugh, even now I’m still thinkin’ about them.”

Aikawa groaned. He dug a hand through his pocket, feeling around for a cardboard box. He then realized that there was no way anything would be in there when he _literally “finished” the last one just now._ So instead, Aikawa dug out the half-smoked cigarette. It was squished and pathetic looking but he still held it up to his lips anyway. He fished out his lighter. Aikawa’s hands were shaking so much that it took several tries to even get the damn thing to light.

‘So much for trying to stay clean.’

Aikawa took a long and heavy drag of the cigarette. Rolling it between his fingers, he sighed. Well, it’s not like it mattered anyway. This was his last one after all. After that, he was completely done until he got out of this stupid place. Still, Aikawa couldn’t help but feel a bit happy that he didn’t let it go to waste.

And yet even now, Aikawa still couldn’t entirely block out what Shiratori told him. He probably seemed moronic for running away like that. It probably seemed even more moronic that he ran away because Shiratori liked him. Well at least, the “real him.”

No matter what Shiratori decided to say to him, it still wouldn’t have stopped his anxious thoughts. These sorts of thoughts wormed themselves into Aikawa’s brain, infesting each and every crevice with nasty little words here and there. It was hard to ignore, even with the cold and the tobacco.

‘She’s a blabbermouth. She won’t be able to keep it to herself.’

‘She’ll tell someone. She’ll tell that boyfriend of hers. Then they’ll tell everyone else.’

‘They’ll hate you. They’ll ostracize you. They’ll think you’re untrustworthy.’

‘What if they find out you’ve been keeping more secrets? They’ll sacrifice you the first chance they get.’

‘But most importantly, _he’ll_ hate you.’

Aikawa dropped the cigarette. It fell to the ground and rolled away from him. He used his free hands to grip at his hair. He didn’t even bother to put it out and instead pulled his hair. He grinded his teeth together painfully.

He didn’t want to be here. He wanted to be anywhere but here. He wanted to curl up into a ball and cease to exist. He wasn’t suicidal and he certainly didn’t want to die, but he didn’t think that disappearing would be so bad. Hell, even blacking out would be a good alternative.

And lucky for Aikawa, it was now of all times that his fatigue had started to kick in. Although he normally wouldn’t sleep on the floor, he was too physically or emotionally drained to care. He didn’t feel like hauling himself to bed. If he’s lucky enough, maybe he’d wake up alive tomorrow.

Not like he cared too much about that at the moment.

As Aikawa closed his eyes, he felt a presence over him. Was someone standing above him? He couldn’t tell. And honestly, he was too tired to care. If they wanted to do something, they should just get it over with already.

The only thing he distinctly remembered before falling asleep were the sickly sweet words of a woman who seemed to revel in his undoing.

“I truly do love the real you, Aikawa.~”


End file.
